American Coot
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Common Name:American
Coot
Class:Aves
Order:Gruiformes
Family:Rallidae
Genus:Fulica
Species:Fulica
americana
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Photo: Kyle Horton |
TAXONOMY
The American Coot appears to be duck-like, but is
actually more closely related to rails. It is in the
order Gruiformes and the family, Rallidae, which includes rails,
crakes, coots, and gallinules. The members of this
family are generally shy birds that all have strong bills,
a face shield, with a short tail, and long toes.
Photo: Kyle Horton
HABITAT/DIET
The American Coot is a medium sized bird around 35 cm
long. The species is not sexually dichromatic, but males
on average are somewhat larger than females. Coots
have
black heads, dark body, white under tail coverts, a
white bill, and white shield. Its feet are
yellow-green to yellow orange and are lobed.
When flying you may be able to see a white outline on the
edge of their wings. Young American Coots are black with red to orange on head, blue
around their eyes, and a red bill with black tip.
The American Coot is a migratory species found mostly
within North America. It has an extensive breeding
range that is centralized in the western and central
North America. extends north into southern Canada down
to central Mexico and the Caribbean. The American
Coot mainly winters in south-eastern United States,
Mexico and Central America. The American Coot
breeds in freshwater habitats that have emergent
vegetation along the banks with standing water.
During the winter, it inhabits freshwater as well as brackish or marine habitats such as lagoons and
coastal bays. This species is an omnivore eating mostly aquatic
vegetation and algae, but will also consume grains, seeds,
grasses, aquatic invertebrates, and aquatic
vertebrates. They feed using a variety of behaviors
including pecking on the surface of the water to dabbling
in shallows and diving in deeper waters.
Photo: Kyle Horton
BEHAVIOR
The American Coot is generally a water bird. It can
walk and run on land, but is rarely found long distances
from water. Their lobed feet enable the American
Coot to walk in mucky substances such as riverbanks.
The bird is a strong swimmer and they have specialized
muscles to help them with this. American
Coots commonly bathe and preen in the water.
Since they are so aggressive, predators take few of
their eggs. However, American Crow have been seen
to prey on coot eggs and other predators such as
Northern Harrier, Great Horned Owl, Bald Eagle, Great
Black-backed Gull prey on juvenile and adult Coots.
To defend themselves American Coots use aggressive
behaviors, alarm calls, group splashing, and diving to
protect against predators.
The American Coot nests from April to August and is a socially monogamous species
where extra pair copulations are rare.
The nest is a floating structure
usually attached to emergent vegetation. The outer
portion is made of coarser vegetation, while the inside
is made of finer steams and forms an egg cup. The
female plays the central role in building the nest, but males have been seen carrying
nesting materials to the female. A single
female may make up to seven different nests; eggs are
laid in one or two nests and the others may be used for
displaying, copulating, or brooding. The clutch size
can be anywhere from 8-12 speckled eggs . Incubation begins
anytime from the first to the last egg and lasts about
23 to 25 days. Both males and females have been
observed incubating eggs. Chicks are precocial and
are capable of leaving the nest six hours after
hatching. Both parents will feed the chicks, lead
older chicks to foraging areas and defend them.
Chicks fledge at 75 days and the parents will drive
young from their territory when the young are 80 days
old.
